Page 84 of Under My Skin

“Thanks so much for letting me crash the party, Miami!” Finn said as the song ended, taking his guitar off and putting it back on its stand. “I’m going to turn it back over to my much better half for a few more songs. Congratulations again, Kyler! Cheers!”

Loud cheers erupted from the crowd as Finn walked offstage, and Bailey approached the microphone again.

“Sorry, Braden!” she chuckled, to resounding laughter. “You don’t know how hard it was to keep my mouth shut when we were talking earlier.”

Suddenly, a bright light blinded me as the spotlight illuminated me and Braden, and he pulled me a little closer, almost like he was trying to ground himself.

“I get an asshole off your back five years ago and this is the thanks I get, Ky?” he laughed while letting go of me and wrapping an arm around her.

“Hey, what’s family for?” she giggled. “You’ll still be hearing about that when you have gray hair.”

Everyone laughed again as the spotlight mercifully left us and returned to Bailey.

“So, Kyler did ask me to play another cover song tonight – again, not for herself, but for two people she loves. And it happens to be one of my favorite feel-good songs, so I was more than happy to oblige. Please sing with me if you know it!”

She started to play Jessie J’s “Domino,” and I swore my heart stopped beating for a second as the memory of our first date flooded my mind. How confused and pained I’d felt after that little whisper of a kiss, and how I’d just lost myself in this song when it came on the radio so I didn’t have to deal with all the emotions that had been threatening to drown me.

Did Kyler know about that night? Was this song for us?

No, she couldn’t have.

Could she?

When I turned to look at Braden, he was grinning from ear to ear, and he dipped his head down for a kiss as he tightened his arms around me.

“Yes, it’s for us,” he said into my ear so I could hear him over the music. “That night, watching you sing along to this song while I was driving you back home, that was when I knew. That was when I fell in love with you, even though I didn’t know how to label my feelings yet.”

It felt like my whole chest was expanding as I blinked back the tears that were stinging my eyes, wondering how the hell I could have been so blind. How I could ever have thought that this incredibly kind, generous teddy bear of a man was capable of any sort of malice. Because if I was honest, I’d started to fall for him that night too, even when everything in me had fought against it.

“Can we have two songs?” I chuckled as I leaned against him and we swayed in sync with the music. “I think maybe this one belongs to us too.”

“Sweetheart, we can have as many songs as we want,” he murmured. “Because this kind of love? There aren’t enough songs in the world to describe it.”

The second the door to our hotel room closed behind us, Braden’s mouth was on mine in a hard, hungry kiss. A kiss full of passion, heat, desire, and the kind of love that could move mountains and start wars. The kind of love that defied logic, reason, and explanations. The kind of love that was once in a lifetime – and I liked to think I knew better than most just how rare this kind of bond was.

Backing me against the wall, Braden pressed his hard-on into my stomach as our tongues stroked together, the only sounds in the room our mingled breaths and quiet moans as we explored this connection that was deeper than the ocean and wider than the heavens. One of his hands slid under the slit on my dress, palming my thigh and lifting my leg to wrap around his waist.

“Do you know how damn hard it was to be a gentleman tonight?” he whispered as he shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket and his lips moved to my neck and sucked. “How hard it was to look at this dress hugging those perfect curves and not drag you into the nearest broom closet so I could worship them?”

I let out a moan as his hand wandered between my legs and a finger stroked over the thin strip of fabric that was covering my core.

“So fucking wet,” he groaned.

“All night,” I gasped, then moaned again as his thumb pressed down on my clit and started to rub circles over it. “Ever since…”

“Since what, sweetheart?” he prodded, nipping at my earlobe. “Say it.”

“Since this afternoon,” I murmured. “Since you taught me how to suck your dick. I’ve been wet all night thinking about it. Wanting to do it again.”

“You can wrap those gorgeous lips around my cock any time you want. I’ll never get enough of that mouth of yours. But right now, it’s my turn to get on my knees and worship at your altar.”

He crashed his mouth to mine again, curling his tongue around mine as he tugged my panties to the side and stroked two fingers down either side of that sensitive bud. Groaning, I dug my fingers into his shoulders as I arched my hips toward him, needing so much more.

When he broke the kiss, he dropped to his knees, pulling the fabric of my dress to the side. And something about seeing this incredibly strong, yet meekly vulnerable man kneeling before me with pure awe and wonder written all over his face took my breath away.

“Keep those pretty eyes on me, beautiful,” he rasped. “Watch me love you.”

As I lowered my gaze, I found myself gazing into molten lava, those gorgeous brown eyes burning with equal parts carnal desire and soul-deep love. I watched as his fingers curled around the flimsy string of my panties, tearing them from my body with one swift motion and stuffing them into his pocket. He quickly uncuffed his dress shirt and rolled his sleeves up, then carefully lifted one of my legs over his shoulder before locking eyes with me again as he leaned in and swiped his tongue over my clit.

---